Transformation · lines 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6
Clearing Obstacles becomes Good Manners
What this change means
Fire glows at the foot of the mountain: five lines change, and Clearing Obstacles becomes 22 Good Manners. Only its fifth line stays fixed, and it holds the counsel: your genuine inner attitude, however small it may seem to you, finds a warm welcome among people in higher places. The resulting hexagram says kindness, courtesy, and good manners bring good results now, and that it's a time for everyday matters, not great undertakings. After a struggle, you may feel you have little to offer, no grand gesture or achievement to present. That's fine. What counts is sincerity and how you treat people. Be courteous, attend to practical details, and offer what you honestly have. Small, genuine gestures tend to open doors that pressure or display would close.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 5 of 22 Good Manners, which stays still
Your genuine inner attitude, small as it may seem to you, is welcomed and accepted in higher circles.
Adornment on the hill and in the garden. The roll of silk is meager. Distress; in the end, good fortune.
- The judgment of 40 Clearing Obstacles
The obstacles have been overcome one by one. You're in a time when balance matters: act quickly and decisively as far as you can, without overrating your abilities. If you feel you need a rest, or even to step back before going on, do it.
The southwest is favorable. With nowhere to go, coming back brings good fortune. With somewhere to go, going early brings good fortune.
- Line 1 of 40 Clearing Obstacles
With the obstacles behind you, take a rest for now so you can recover your strength to keep going.
No fault.
- Line 2 of 40 Clearing Obstacles
The obstacles are overcome; now you're easy prey for flattery. If you avoid falling for it and bring what isn't right into the open, cleanly and without a single flaw, you'll succeed.
On the hunt, catches three foxes and gains a yellow arrow. Constancy brings good fortune.
- Line 3 of 40 Clearing Obstacles
If you act high-handed and boast about your achievements, exaggerating them, you'll draw quarrels and envy that threaten to take away what you've gained.
Carries a load on the back and rides in a carriage: this brings raiders. Constancy brings distress.
- Line 4 of 40 Clearing Obstacles
It's important to let go of ties and loyalties that can't be trusted and that, if anything, will slow your progress, so you can move forward freely.
Untie your big toe: the friend arrives, and then there is trust.
- Line 6 of 40 Clearing Obstacles
Once you've strengthened your inner self, you can get through the obstacles and achieve your purpose with firm, decisive action.
The duke shoots at a falcon on top of the high wall and hits it. Nothing that is not favorable.
- The judgment of 22 Good Manners
It's a time to be kind and courteous and to use good manners with others if you want good results in what you undertake. What might seem superficial at another time leads you to success now. It's a time to handle everyday matters, not great undertakings.
Success. In small things, it is favorable to have somewhere to go.
The trigrams
The way back
22 Good Manners → 40 Clearing Obstacleslines 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6
Other transformations of Clearing Obstacles
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.